needless posting..

These need to be shared... and I don't have a tumblr.

How to make proper Tea. Just remember the 6 golden rules, form 1940!

Marilyn Monroe, dressed as Lillian Russell. Sigh...
Stolen from here, Historiful's Tumblr.

Canadian Music Festival Awesomeness!

 Yep. I have finally manned up and am actually going to a big music festival, one of Canada's biggest, Osheaga!!

 This one is stolen from the Osheaga website.

This one's stolen from here.

Also, before you ask:

I'm also looking forward to some Montreal food! I'm cheaping out for the most part, breakfast is included where I'm staying and I plan to do a bulk barn run and get some fruit for snacks at the fest, but the people I'm going with are all about food too, so there will be some restauranting. The last time we went we managed to find and actually get into Schwartz's for some smoked meat goodness.

All pics stolen from my friend Rob, taken on our last big trip to Montreal.

One more draft to go, a formatting draft on top of that and then the fun can begin. Ugh...

Toronto Foodist

In a desperate attempt to get out of the apartment this past week, I decided to have lunch at a newish restaurant in downtown, Cheesewerks, for some "artisan grilled cheese." I do love my grilled cheese, in a variety of formats, and the Beijing sandwich was hard to resist!

Pretty much everything listed in the Beijing seemed like a great idea for a grilled cheese, especially a more non-traditional one. I was a little caught off guard by the $13 price tag for a sandwich and potato chips, so I was expecting a lot from this sandwich.

The chips were actually a surprise, I thought it was just a sandwich at first since the menu board in the restaurant didn't hint at a side being included with a sandwich. I was happy to discover that when I couldn't order any juices (they only had homemade sodas, and while they did sound tasty, I'm not a fan of fizzy drinks), the water I ended up getting was free and unending in a big glass decanter. It was super hot that day in Toronto... has it has been for days, so I was a bit dehydrated by the time I got there. The sandwich was awesome! The bread was nice and thick and had a great crunch to counteract the gooey cheese and mostly soft BBQ pork. Some of the pork pieces were a little too thick, but they tasted great none the less.


On a side note, Summerlicious is back! From July 6th to the 22nd in the Tdot, several restaurants offer a fixed price lunch and dinner menus as a way to bring in us cheap people for a meal!

Some friends and I are getting a short list together of places for lunches and dinners, we love Summerlicous, and its snowy counterpart, Winterlicious! In the past I've been to place like Canoe, Spice Route and 360 at the CN Tower, the tower was great for the view too! Hopefully we'll we enjoying the spoils of the restaurants soon!

Fudgy Chocolate Raspberry Brownies

Oh, Canadian Living. You haven't failed me yet.

A few of us got together recently to have a games night with a friend who was recovering from surgery. I had a lot of raspberries in the fridge, and decided to do some baking. A recipe I found for Fudgy Chocolate Raspberry Brownies that seemed perfect for the occassion.

Fudgy Chocolate Raspberry Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup of packed, fresh raspberries, or thawed, frozen raspberries,
4 oz of unsweetened chocolate, chopped,
1/2 unsalted butter, cubed,
3 eggs,
1 & 1/4 cups granulated sugar,
1/2 tsp of vanilla,
3/4 cup of all-purpose flour,
1 tsp icing sugar (optional).

Grease 9-inch (2.5 L) square metal cake pan and set aside. (I don't have a 9-inch pan, I have an 8-inch glass casserole dish, and I found that this worked absolutely fine. I just cooked the brownies a little longer since they were deeper and kept an eye on them.)

In food processor or blender, puree raspberries. Pass through fine sieve to remove seeds. Set aside. (You will not be able to get all of the seeds out, that's okay. It'll just leave some crunchy surprises in the brownies.)

In separate bowl over saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt chocolate with butter; let cool slightly. (I used my makeshift double boiler, and it worked fine.)

 
In bowl, beat eggs with granulated sugar for about 5 minutes or until pale and thickened. On low speed, beat in vanilla and chocolate mixture and beat in raspberry puree with wooden spoon, followed by the flour. Spread batter in prepared pan.

Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until cake tester inserted in centre comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Let cool in pan on rack. Sprinkle with icing sugar. Cut into squares. Can be refrigerated for about a week and frozen for a month.

 Huzzah for crappy photography and being to hungry to wait!

Aside from the surprise crunchy bits from the raspberry seeds that I couldn't get out of the puree, the brownies were fantastic and were devoured by all! We got stuffed at Dim Sum for dinner before the games night, but suddenly had room for desert when the brownies were pulled out. 

 
On a side note, I'm attempting to find more free/cheap stuff to do in Toronto this summer. I'm slowly going broke with the lack of employment (I am trying to find a job, honest), and spending cash to go out is not always my best option. Summerlicious is coming up, so if I can save some cash for a lunch or dinner during that, all the better. Fortunately, TIFF is putting on free movies this summer, right in downtown!

This past Wednesday, my friend and I grabbed a blanket and enjoyed Ernst Lubitsch's Trouble in Paradise from 1932. It was a lovely way to spend an evening, and great weather was a bonus. This week, it's My Man Godfrey, with Carole Lombard and William Powell. I've seen half of this movie already and I wouldn't mind camping out for the second half.

Apart from Thesising, I'm still cleaning up my place. Fred's been very helpful has a holder of things.

He's very good at it, doesn't complain or anything.